Lost in the Dunes

The sandboarding trip starts well. The rental hut sits at the edge of the dunes, and the guide hands out boards and a short warning. "Stay inside the orange flags," she says. "Be back by four. And remember, the wind blows off the sea all day long."

Perjalanan seluncur pasir itu dimulai dengan baik. Gubuk penyewaan berdiri di tepi bukit pasir, dan sang pemandu membagikan papan beserta peringatan singkat. "Tetaplah di dalam bendera oranye," katanya. "Kembali sebelum jam empat. Dan ingat, angin bertiup dari laut sepanjang hari."

Antonia nods and forgets about it at once. She is far more interested in the biggest dune she has ever seen.

Antonia mengangguk dan langsung melupakannya. Ia jauh lebih tertarik pada bukit pasir terbesar yang pernah ia lihat.

By half past two, she, her cousin, the tall boy and the girl with the braid have slid down it three times. Each time, the climb back up feels longer, so they keep moving to the next ridge, and then the next. Nobody notices that the last orange flag has been out of sight for an hour.

Pukul setengah tiga, ia, sepupunya, si anak laki-laki jangkung, dan si gadis berkepang sudah meluncur turun tiga kali. Setiap kali, mendaki kembali terasa lebih panjang, jadi mereka terus pindah ke punggungan berikutnya, lalu berikutnya lagi. Tidak ada yang memperhatikan bahwa bendera oranye terakhir sudah tak terlihat selama satu jam.

At the top of a high ridge, the girl with the braid turns in a slow circle. "Which way is the hut?" she asks.

Di puncak sebuah punggungan tinggi, si gadis berkepang berputar pelan satu lingkaran. "Gubuknya ke arah mana?" tanyanya.

Every direction shows the same pale waves of sand. The tall boy holds his phone above his head like a trophy. "No signal," he announces. "None."

Ke segala arah terlihat gelombang pasir pucat yang sama. Si anak laki-laki jangkung mengangkat ponselnya tinggi-tinggi seperti piala. "Tidak ada sinyal," umumnya. "Sama sekali."

"Our footprints," her cousin says. "We just follow our footprints back."

"Jejak kaki kita," kata sepupunya. "Kita tinggal ikuti jejak kaki kita kembali."

They try it, but the wind has been smoothing the sand all afternoon, and the prints fade after ten steps. Twenty minutes later, they reach a spot where the tall boy stops short. In front of him lies a long scratch left by a board, and beside it, a trail of footprints that all four of them recognize.

Mereka mencobanya, tetapi angin telah meratakan pasir sepanjang sore, dan jejak-jejak itu menghilang setelah sepuluh langkah. Dua puluh menit kemudian, mereka sampai di sebuah tempat yang membuat si anak laki-laki jangkung berhenti mendadak. Di depannya terbentang goresan panjang bekas papan, dan di sampingnya ada jejak kaki yang dikenali oleh keempatnya.

"We walked in a circle," the girl with the braid says quietly. Their water bottle is half empty.

"Kita berjalan berputar-putar," kata si gadis berkepang pelan. Botol air mereka tinggal setengah.

Antonia sits down and makes herself think. The guide's words come back to her, slowly, like a song she had been trying to remember. The wind blows off the sea. Wind ripples are gentle on the side that faces the wind and steep on the other side.

Antonia duduk dan memaksa dirinya berpikir. Kata-kata sang pemandu kembali padanya, perlahan, seperti lagu yang sedang berusaha ia ingat. Angin bertiup dari laut. Riak angin landai di sisi yang menghadap angin dan curam di sisi sebaliknya.

She runs a hand over the sand beside her. The gentle slopes face one way, and the steep ones face the other.

Ia mengusapkan tangannya ke pasir di sampingnya. Lereng yang landai menghadap ke satu arah, dan yang curam menghadap ke arah lain.

"The gentle side points toward the sea," she says. "And the hut is by the sea."

"Sisi yang landai menghadap ke laut," katanya. "Dan gubuknya ada di dekat laut."

"Unless you have it backward," the tall boy says.

"Kecuali kalau kamu terbalik," kata si anak laki-laki jangkung.

"Then check it." She opens the compass on her phone. It does not need a signal, only a sensor, and the needle swings steadily toward west. The sun is already sinking in that direction. The ripples, the compass and the sun all agree.

"Kalau begitu, periksa saja." Ia membuka kompas di ponselnya. Kompas itu tidak butuh sinyal, hanya sensor, dan jarumnya berayun mantap ke arah barat. Matahari sudah tenggelam ke arah itu. Riak pasir, kompas, dan matahari semuanya sepakat.

She leads. Every hundred steps, they push a board upright into a ridge, so that they can keep walking in a straight line toward it.

Ia memimpin. Setiap seratus langkah, mereka menancapkan sebuah papan tegak di punggungan, agar bisa terus berjalan lurus menuju papan itu.

An hour later, a flash of orange appears between two dunes. Then a second flag, and then the roof of the hut, with the guide standing in front of it, shading her eyes.

Satu jam kemudian, kilatan oranye muncul di antara dua bukit pasir. Lalu bendera kedua, dan kemudian atap gubuk, dengan sang pemandu berdiri di depannya, menaungi matanya dengan tangan.

In Antonia's pocket, the phone buzzes once, twice, and then, without stopping, thirty more times.

Di saku Antonia, ponsel bergetar sekali, dua kali, lalu tanpa berhenti, tiga puluh kali lagi.